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Chanson Style

Russian Criminal Encyclopedia
In Museyon’s Music+Travel Worldwide, Alina Simone is your guide to chanson, Russia’s soulful signature sound, a rebellious mix of folk music and outlaw tales. The thing is though, if you’re going to sing about life in the gulags, you’ve got to look the part.
 
That’s why we’re excited to see that the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I is back. Based on the more than 3,000 tattoos accumulated by amateur ethnographer Danzig Baldayev during his lifetime as a prison attendant, the book is the definitive guide to the secret language of Russian prison tattoos. Previously out of print, the first volume of the encyclopedia is a cult classic that goes for big money online. And it’s no wonder why. The book is such an authority on the topic, that director David Cronenberg used it as a resource during the filming of his 2007 Russian gangster flick ‘Eastern Promises‘.
 


 
Thanks to our friends at Brothers By Choice for the heads up on this one! To hear more chanson, check out streaming station 101.ru, where it’s all chanson, all the time.

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